Grampus (a sailor's corruption of Ital. grøn pesce, or Span. gran pez, 'great fish'), a cetaceous animal, common in almost all seas from Greenland to Tasmania, not unfrequent in the Atlantic, and well known on the British coasts. Constituting the genus Orca, it is the largest of the Delphinidae, often more than 20 feet in length; its form spindle-shaped, but thicker in proportion than the porpoise, from which it also differs in the much greater height of its dorsal fin, in its rounded head, and its permanent conical teeth. It is remarkable for its great strength and voracity, and is the only cetacean which preys systematically on its warm-blooded kindred—on small dolphins and porpoises, belugas, and even whales—the grampuses, or 'killers' as English sailors also call them, assembling in herds to pursue whales.